Ulterior Motives
by BlueNeutrino
Summary: Peter Pettigrew is always going to be remembered as a villain: the man who sold out his best friends to the Dark Lord for no reason other than self-interest. But it's worth remembering there are two sides to every story.
1. Prologue

_**Ulterior Motives**_

**Summary: Peter Pettigrew is always painted as a villain in the Harry Potter world: the man who sold out his best friends to the Dark Lord for no reason other than self-interest. But it's worth remembering there are two sides to every story.**

**A/N: This is a sort of spin-off from my other story **_**In Too Far. **_**Writing that one made me think more about the reasons behind why Peter did what he did. I don't want to give away too much before I've wrapped up a few plot points in my other story, but here's just a taster of what's to come. If you also read my other story **_**In Too Far, **_**this may give you more of a clue as to what's going to happen. I don't think there are enough fics out there that are sympathetic towards Peter, so I decided to write this. Even if you are normally a Peter-hater, I hope you can appreciate that there may be a different story if told from his point of view.**

**Disclaimer: I think you can work out what's mine and what's Ms Rowling's.**

_**Prologue**_

If he'd known back then how loving her was going to destroy his life completely he would have told himself to stay well away. He never would have allowed himself to feel guilty; never gone back and apologised for that horrible joke he and the others had played on her; never allowed himself to fall for the kind Hufflepuff girl with the blue eyes.

But it wasn't that simple. There was no way he could have known back then how things were going to turn out. All he knew was that day by day he was falling ever more in love with her. As much as he loved to tease James about his inability to get Lily to agree to go out with him, Peter knew he was only doing it to hide the fact he felt the exact same frustration. He had his own equivalent of Lily Evans.

Emily.

She'd started out as just another Hogwarts student who was unlucky enough to fall victim to one of their pranks, but she'd grown to be so much more than that. She wasn't one of those girls who'd fall at Sirius or James' feet just because they were 'bad boys' with good looks and a notorious reputation; or one of the ones who'd go off sulking for days if Remus politely turned down one of their propositions of a date; or, like almost every other girl in the school, viewed Peter as nothing more than a minor annoyance who didn't belong among the other three and therefore ignored him completely. Instead, Emily held them all in equal disdain, and that was what made him notice her.

She may have been quiet and unassuming for the most part, and that was why they'd thought she'd make an easy target, but, bloody hell, when it came to it she knew how to stand up for herself. Her vicious put down of James and subsequent slapping of Sirius round the face had definitely managed to get their attention, but while the others had condemned her as a sour cow with no sense of humour for it, she'd prompted Peter to think. There were jokes that were amusing, and jokes that were degrading, and maybe she was right: they had overstepped the line.

Even though he'd joined in with the others laughing at her at the time, later on he'd felt rather bad about it. That was why he'd decided to go and apologise to her. It was the most nerve-wracking thing he'd ever done - including becoming an illegal underage animagus and running around with a werewolf once a month – but she'd been very gracious about it. She accepted his apology. In fact, she'd done much more than that. She offered to help him carry his potted fanged geranium to Herbology. She even agreed to sit next to him in the library so they could work on their homework together. One simple apology had turned into a fully fledged friendship. Not one that James, Sirius and Remus would approve of in the slightest, given that none of them liked her, but one that Peter valued immensely.

However, the longer it went on, the stronger his feelings got. She wasn't just a friend to him; she was much more important than that. He had the marauders for friends, but really they just didn't understand him like Emily did. She was kind, clever, funny in ways that would be lost on James and Sirius, and very attuned to people's feelings. He could talk to her about things he'd never dream of mentioning with the others.

By his fifth year, Peter realised he was completely and utterly in love with her. Even if she didn't seem to return the sentiment yet, even if she still thought they were 'just friends', he knew he wasn't going to give up. No matter how long it took.

He didn't know back then what was going to happen or what the future held, but he did know he would give up _everything _for her, if he had to.

And, as it turned out, everything was exactly what he had to give.


	2. A Bad Situation

**A/N: I know, it's been absolutely ages since I updated this, but I've finally had an idea as to where I could go with it so I've written a bit more. The timelines might seem to jump around a bit in this, but I hope everybody can still follow it. Thank you to everybody who's reviewed, I hope you like this next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Is it really necessary to say it again?**

_**Chapter One - A Bad Situation**_

_July 1981_

When the knocks sounded on the door in the middle of the night Peter woke with a start. His initial reaction was one of panic: _it must be the Death Eaters, _he thought, _they're hunting down the Order, they've come for me. _But then he realised that Death Eaters wouldn't knock. But still, it was one in the morning. Who would be calling on him this hour? He thought it was possible it might be one of the Order members, but he was still nervous. Maybe they'd come to warn him about something, but that was what the painting of Edgar Stroulger in his hallway was for. They didn't normally call round in person.

The knocks continued to sound, getting louder and more urgent, and Peter realised he was going to have to answer them. If it turned out that whoever was knocking _was _hostile after all then he'd just have to turn into a rat and try and make it back to Order HQ. He got out of bed and pulled on his dressing gown, before heading downstairs to answer the door of the cramped little terraced house he called a home. As well as the relentless knocking he could hear the sound of the rain falling heavily outside. Once he'd reached the door he opened it just crack and peered out nervously, but when he realised who was standing there he opened the door fully and stood gaping in surprise. On the doorstep was stood a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties, with long blonde hair that was plastered to her face from the rain and wearing a thick woollen cloak that she held tight around her. Peter could tell immediately that something was wrong. She was staring at him with a terrified expression, her blue eyes wide with fear. And even more worryingly, he could see the right side of her neck was stained crimson as blood poured from a deep gash there. He stared at her in shock. "Emily?"

"I'm sorry, Peter," she stammered, her voice shaking with panic, "I…I didn't know where else to go."

"No, don't be sorry. Get inside," he said quickly, ushering her in and shutting the door behind her. "What happened?" he asked urgently as he led her into the living room. He sat her down on the sofa and took his wand from the pocket of his dressing gown to jab it in the direction of the hearth, where a fire immediately ignited. Emily was still shivering, and he took the sodden cloak from her shoulders and threw it on the floor, before taking the throw blanket from the back of the sofa and wrapping it round her. She didn't move all the while he was doing that, simply continuing to stare blankly at the space in front of her. He tried to get a better look at the cut on her neck, but immediately felt squeamish. _Stop it, Peter, _he told himself, _she needs you to help her. _Trying not to think about the blood, he brought up his wand to start the healing spell, still watching her face with concern. She still hadn't answered him. "Emily, please tell me what happened," he asked again.

"Evan," she said abruptly, and Peter immediately stopped casting the spell and simply stared at her. His hands balled into fists as tried to work out what she meant.

"Did he…" he began, his tone livid, but Emily quickly spoke again.

"He's one of them."

A sense of horror began to grip Peter. "What?" His voice sounded strangled.

Emily looked ready to cry. "He's…he's a Death Eater!" she sobbed, finally breaking down into tears. Peter wanted to put an arm round her to comfort her, but he was too stunned to move. "All those nights he'd go out and wouldn't tell me where he was, and I was worrying about him seeing another woman. Well, I turns out I was wrong about that," she cried hysterically, and then she made a sudden movement with her arms. Peter watched her move her right hand to forcefully pull off the engagement ring she was wearing, and even though he'd been wanting to see her do that for months the situation was just too serious for him to feel any sense of satisfaction. "The bastard!" Emily screamed as she flung the ring across the room, and then broke down in another fit of sobs.

Peter finally made a move to envelope her in a comforting hug. Gently, he put up a hand to touch the partially healed cut on her neck. "Was it him who did this?"

She shook her head. "No, it was Moody."

The moment she'd said that he felt even more panicked. "Moody?"

Emily nodded. "He came after Evan with two other aurors, and I just happened to be there. If he hadn't shown up I never would have found out the truth, but he thought I was in on it as well. He and Evan got into a fight, and the others tried to arrest me, but I didn't know what to do. I panicked and tried to escape, but Moody got me with a cutting curse just before I disapparated."

She was sobbing into his shoulder, and Peter really didn't know what he could say that would make things any better. So Moody thought she was a Death Eater? But he knew Moody, he could talk to him and explain…

Except that wouldn't work. His friendship with Emily had been a secret for years. He'd never told James, or Sirius, or Remus for fear of them ridiculing him, and he'd certainly not mentioned it to any of the Order. He wanted to believe that if he told them now they'd still trust him, but he knew full well what Moody was like. Peter was barely brave enough to talk to him as it was, but if he said anything about this then Moody would no doubt only begin to suspect him as well. The mad auror would probably think Peter had been keeping her a secret all this time because he was in on it too. And if Peter went up against Mad-Eye Moody, then he knew it wouldn't end well. But surely though, there must be _someone _he could go to for help?

"It'll be alright," he told her, not really believing it but still trying to cling onto hope. "We can clear your name. There's no proof you've done anything wrong."

"But what if there is?" she wailed, "Evan managed to completely fool me. He must have used memory charms, maybe even used the Imperius Curse. For all I know I _have _done something!"

"Emily, we can't know that for sure," he said soothingly, but with a growing sense of dread he knew that it was more than likely to be the truth. Why else would a Death Eater show an interest in her? Rosier must have been using her for something, trying to cover his own back so that the aurors would go after her instead. And now it seemed like the aurors had gone after them both.

Emily was clinging onto him now in complete terror. "I'll go to Azkaban!" she sobbed hysterically, "You know what Crouch is like, I won't even get a trial. I can't go there, Peter. Please, I don't want to go there…"

She broke off into another fit of sobs, and he hugged her even tighter to him. "You won't go to Azkaban, I promise," he muttered to her, praying that was a promise he could keep. He couldn't bear the thought of her being in there: it wasn't fair, she'd done nothing to deserve it. All she was guilty of was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he wasn't going to let her pay for it with a prison sentence. It was all Rosier's fault; the lying, manipulative bastard. He was the one who deserved a life sentence in Azkaban, not her.

But what could Peter do about it?

He was desperately trying to think of something, but his mind was drawing up a blank. He hated not being as smart as James or the other Marauders; it was always them he'd relied on to come up with good ideas and tell him what to do. But now he was on his own, and it was _him _Emily was relying on. It was up to him to think of a way to save her.

Finally, she stopped crying and managed to calm down, but Peter was still sat with her arms around her. He didn't want to let her go, not until he'd thought of something that could make everything alright, but he still couldn't see any way out of this. He didn't think he could go up against Moody and there was no way anyone would believe him over the esteemed auror, but surely there was some other way they could avoid her having to go to Azkaban?

"Peter," he heard Emily mutter softly, giving a slight sniffle, "What do we do now?"

"I don't know," he whispered, hugging her tighter, "But we'll think of something." Although in all honesty, he had no idea what.


End file.
